PAVING THE ROAD TO MY FUTURE (Part 9b)

The third thing worthy of mention was the result of an unusual set of circumstances. Elle's father and mine were born but three days apart and in the same year. Rather than have two parties, my mother and Elle's mother worked it out that they would have one party and take turns holding it. This year it was to be at my house. We managed to get our work schedules changed to make it work. Elle had gone over to Nan's house after she'd finished up her shift and I was to go pick her up. When I got there I found that they'd walked down to the bay. By the time I caught up with her we were late for the party. The three of us ran back to Nan's house but when we were almost there Elle stopped. I was way ahead of the two of them and didn't notice until I was back by my car. I was exhorting them to hurry because I knew our mothers would be mad. When they got to the car Nan was trying to persuade Elle to go in the house. I, on the other hand, wanted her to get in the car. She chose the latter. As she slid in I just happened to notice that she had drawn her skirt up to her waist, barely exposing her panties. THAT caught my attention but I didn't know why she'd done it. We were both quiet on the trip to my house and when we got there Elle headed for her house instead of going up the walk with me. I was upset knowing I was going to get some "heat" for being late. I still needed to change out of my work clothes as well. My mother was there as I walked in and, as expected, gave me "holy hell". After she'd had her say she walked back to the dining room and I headed upstairs. As I did I saw Elle coming up the walk. I could see she was very agitated. I went back out on the porch to see what was wrong. Now she knew I knew about her "dribble" problems but it was something she didn't talk to me about. However, this time she did.

In running back from the beach with Nan she'd "leaked". And it was a lot. When we'd arrived in my driveway it had been her plan to go home and get a dry pair of panties before coming over to my house. She was concerned about wearing her wet panties while sitting on our furniture and didn't know what to do. However, when she got to her house she found the door locked.

I stood there listening to her and out of the blue I came up with a solution. I'd seen Judy (of the Wendy/Judy summer) a few days before and when Elle was telling me about needing dry panties I remembered that I still had that pair of Judy's "Spanky Pants" from the time she'd sailed with me. I ran up the stairs and to my hiding place. I just grabbed them and ran back down. She was still standing on the porch so I opened the screen door and pulled her inside. I'd wadded the panties up in my hand and stuffed them into one of hers and then pushed her towards the downstairs bathroom. I knew my mother was probably now fuming so I, still in my work clothes, walked to the dining room where our parents were seated. Elle followed a minute or so later. When she looked at me she gave me one of those "looks" that can freeze a person. I knew it had to do with the panties. We both knew we were in trouble as there wasn't much conversation the rest of the evening. Elle's parents made her go home with them when they left so I never got to speak with her alone. I got another "dose" of anger from my mother and then headed off to the gas station to finish my shift. I just knew Elle was going to want to know the "who, what and why" about the panties and, the more I thought about it the more I worried about it. My grandfather had espoused telling the truth from the time I knew him. He'd say that if you told the truth you had nothing to forget. I wasn't so sure about it then.

We were back on our regular work schedule the next day. I'd take my lunch break and go home and usually eat it with her and then we'd both go back to work. When I showed up she wasn't there. Her mother told me she didn't know where she was. That worried me. I waited until I HAD to leave and then she appeared. I said "Hi" but got no response. It remained that way the rest of the day. That night, when I picked her up from work, she finally opened up. I can honestly say that I didn't know what to expect from her. She asked... I told her... silence.

It took another day for things to get back to "normal". I felt, at the time, that she didn't entirely belive me. The "hang up" was that I hadn't given the panties back. But, what WAS interesting was that she didn't give the panties back to me! (I'll get back to that later.)

There was one other item of interest (at least to me). Elle was due to go back to school on Wednesday which meant my time with her would be further reduced. It rained on Saturday which caused the stock car races to be cancelled. It was both good and bad. The good, of course, was that I'd have the whole evening with Elle. The bad was in that it meant I would only be around for two more nights of racing and the car was doing well. I'd hoped to take her to a movie but when I showed up she was jumping around with joy. Arrangements had been made between Nan's parents and Elle's parents to allow Nan to stay and to complete her senior year of High School. Some of her siblings had already left for Florida with her Father. Her Mother was leaving on Monday with the rest of them and Nan had to get her things to Elle's house. Elle "recruited" me to help. It was definitely not a part of my plans. By the time we'd moved everything over to Elle's they decided Nan might as well stay. That totally ruined my chances to spend any time alone with her.

Sunday found more rain and higher winds. It wasn't so bad that the sailboat races were cancelled so I competed. I did well enough to clinch the club championship. That helped take my mind off the fact that most of Elle's time would be taken up with Nan.
Since she was "busy" I volunteered to work at the gas station. The owner was glad to see me as it had been busier than usual all day. Hurricane forecasting in the early 50's left a lot to be desired. I'd heard some people at the market mention there was a storm in the Atlantic but none of them seemed concerned. Since our area was one with a lot of Summer rentals and the month due to end on Tuesday, with two days of rain and two more predicted a fair number of the renters decided to head back early and that was why we had the extra business. I normally shut the station down at 9pm but the owner asked me to keep it open until business really slowed down. At 10:45pm I pulled the light switch. I had to put the money away and while I was doing it I happened to hear a mention of hurricane Carol (it was the first year of naming storms) and that it was off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. I didn't think much of it as I knew North Carolina was a long way away.

I awoke Monday morning to the full fury of "Carol". Power was off which meant no water (we were all on well water that needed to be pumped to the surface) and no telephone. The eye of the storm passed directly over us (a real life science lesson) and by the time it passed by there were dozens of trees completely down and broken branches hid the lawns. The road to town was completely blocked by downed trees and power lines. We had about three hours to survey the damage before it got dark. No one had power generators in those days and worse, no one was prepared in any way for what we'd experienced. The market was opened on Tuesday afternoon by the owner and by dark everyhing was pretty much gone. There was no need for me. Elle had already given the drug store notice that she wouldn't be in during the daytime any more so she was free as well. Since the gas station needed electricity to pump the gas it was closed as well. That left nothing to do but to start cleaning the mess up.

Elle, her mother and Nan were working in their yard when I showed up. As I walked up I saw the three of them dragging this big tree limb off into the woods behind Elle's house. I waited for them but only Elle's mother and Nan came out. I started walking in when I heard Nan call out to me. I stopped and she told me that Elle didn't want to see me right then. My first thought was it had to do with the panties I'd given her. I gave Nan a funny look as to why and she, surprisingly, pointed to her crotch and then to Elle. I sort of laughed as Nan had been with Elle when they peed in the boat so I kept going towards her. I was a bit puzzled as she knew I knew about her situation but when I got almost up to her it was very obvious what had happened. All of the times I'd seen her wet she was in shorts. This time she was in jeans and she was wet to her ankles.

With the storm had come high water (totally around Elle's house) and the septic systems were filled with sea water. That severely restricted toilet use. Elle had been putting off going but straining to drag the limb into the woods had done her in. I ended up staying and helping them (at the price of a good scolding from my parents) and the lasting memory of it was that Elle never went and changed her clothes. It was a good thing that we were all honestly busy helping or the occasional "bulge" might have given me away.

Power was restored that Saturday. It took six days. Elle's (and Nan's) school opening was delayed for a week which, coincidently was the day I had to return to my school. I don't have any more panty peeks or such for that time but could write a good sized story about what it was like for all of us living through that week... but I won't.

To be continued...